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The corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused substantial disruptions to health services due to overburdening the health system Hence, there are severe obstructions in tuberculosis (TB) services in India's primary health care and hospital settings Several restrictions, such as lockdown, self-isolations, and other public health guidelines to prevent viral transmission, impacted the delivery of essential facilities for TB management A significant reduction in tuberculosis testing in the public health sector has been noticed, which is an alarming situation in India However, there are several risks in managing TB due to rising cases of COVID-19 but maintaining the most critical prevention activities and healthcare services for tuberculosis could substantially reduce the overall impact of the COVID-19 pandemic This review focuses on the impact and challenges of COVID-19 on tuberculosis Further, the strategies to eradicate tuberculosis in the era of COVID-19 are also discussed © 2020, Editorial board of Journal of Experimental Biology and Agricultural Sciences All rights reserved

The severity of COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has been associated with hyperinflammation induced by excessive release of a range of cytokines and chemokines. Among a plethora of cytokines, interleukin-6 (IL-6) plays a pivotal role in the immunopathology of SARS-CoV-2 infection as IL-6 has been proposed to initiate hypersecretion of cytokines by activating the Janus kinases-signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK-STAT) pathway. Hence, targeting IL-6 and its receptor can be an appropriate therapeutic strategy to treat SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, tocilizumab (TCZ) is a well-known monoclonal antibody for its anti-inflammatory activities. TCZ has been designed to bind two different IL-6 receptors, viz., membrane-bound and soluble receptors. As an antagonist of IL-6 receptors, TCZ inhibits the JAK-STAT signaling pathway, which is essential for the transcriptional activation of cytokines-producing genes.Hence, the inhibition of IL-6 receptors can substantially reduce hyperinflammation, a key characteristic of severely infected patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. TCZ has much promise in terms of treating SARS-CoV-2-related hyperinflammation, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and multiple organ damage. Hence, TCZ has been proposed as a potential therapeutic drug for treating COVID-19 disease. However, several discrepancies still exist, such as a well-defined molecular mechanism, efficacy, and safety parameters. In this context, various databases, including Medline, ResearchGate, PubMed, Science Direct, Scopus, and Google Scholar, were explored employing keywords such as “Cytokine storm”, “COVID-19”, “hyper inflammation”, “IL-6”, “TCZ”, and “SARS-COV-2” up to May 2021. The authors independently collected and evaluated research papers for inclusion in the current review, relying on their relatedness to the main theme of the literature review. So, this narrative review aims to provide updated information about the molecular mechanism, efficacy, and safety of TCZ in the treatment of COVID-19. However,several contradictions and challenges associated with TCZ use in the treatment of severely infected patients with COVID-19 have also been discussed. © 2021 Manish Dhawan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the etiological agent of the potentially fatal coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has currently affected over 87 million people with worldwide deaths nearing 1 9 million Amidst the developing vaccines and effective therapies, there is a need to develop alternative and supportive strategies for ameliorating the effects of SARS-CoV-2 infections in humans and treat COVID-19 patients Several medicinal plants and herbs contain useful phytochemicals, which are being explored to develop medicines and drugs to counter the COVID-19 pandemic Withania somnifera is a medicinal herb of growing importance that is extensively utilized in Ayurveda The medicinal attributes of W somnifera are owing to a broad range of bioactive secondary metabolites including steroidal lactones [withanone, withanolide D, withanolide A, and withaferin A (WFA)] Among these, WFA is one of the most interesting naturally occurring bioactive compounds that possess potent anti-tumorigenic, antiinflammatory, pro-apoptotic, anti-angiogenic, and anti-invasive activities It might bind to SARS-CoV-2 S protein and alter the S protein, thereby hindering its access into the host cells Withanone and Withanoside V can impede the functional activities of SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro) Withanolides have been found to control cytokine secretions during infection and could alleviate the cytokine storm in the lungs The combined use of withanolides are several other drugs or therapeutic modalities, such as hydroxychloroquine and dexamethasone, has been demonstrated as an efficient strategy to improve the effectiveness of standard chemotherapy or design a robust therapeutic regime for COVID-19 treatment Nevertheless, exhaustive research efforts are required to explore the anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory potentialities of withanolides for alleviating the severity of the disease during SARS-CoV-2 infections This review highlights the medicinal and therapeutic potential of withanolides against COVID-19 © 2021 Manish Dhawan et al This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4 0 International License (https://creativecommons org/licenses/by/4 0/)

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has resulted in a catastrophic pandemic and severely impacted people's livelihoods worldwide. In addition, the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants has posed a severe threat to humankind. Due to the dearth of therapeutic options during the commencement of the pandemic, convalescent plasma therapy (CPT) played a significant part in the management of patients with severe form of COVID-19. Several recent studies have proposed various protective effects of CPT, such as antiviral, anti-inflammatory, anti-thrombotic, and immunomodulatory actions, curtailing the devastating consequences of the SARS-CoV-2 infection. On the contrary, several clinical studies have raised some serious concerns about the effectiveness and reliability of CPT in the management of patients with COVID-19. The protective effects of CPT in severely ill patients are yet to be proved. Moreover, the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants has raised concerns about the effectiveness of CPT against COVID-19. Therefore, to establish concrete evidence of the efficacy of CPT and adjudicate its inclusion in the management of COVID-19, an updated review of present literature is required, which could help in the development of an efficient therapeutic regimen to treat COVID-19 amid the emergence of new viral variants.

The present study was aimed at isolation and characterization of urease producing bacterial strains for improving the strength of cement concrete. A total of 1500 colonies were isolated from different samples like cowshed, poultry farm, milk, soil and pigeon dung. These isolated cultures were purified on phenol red agar plates. Out of total, 17 bacterial cultures showed pink coloured colonies indicating the presence of urease enzyme. These isolates were characterised on the basis of Gram's staining, size, shape, colour (also known as pigmentation), texture and elevation, ability to form endospores, catalase test, hydrogen sulphide production and acid production and carbohydrate utilization test.